


Purgatory

by TheBattyQueen



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Gen, I might have made Koroks dark, Koroks, Post-Calamity Ganon, Pre-Calamity Ganon, Prequel, Rhoam’s self hatred, but they are still fun, mostly contemplations about stuff I HC, the King hates himself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24988081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBattyQueen/pseuds/TheBattyQueen
Summary: King Rhoam made a lot of bad decisions and the Goddess Hylia took notice. She has sentenced him to a punishment of watching over the hero until he awakes and is ready to start his quest. This is his story
Relationships: King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule/Zelda's Mother (Legend of Zelda)
Kudos: 16





	Purgatory

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this is the story about Rhoam’s 100 years on the plateau it will mostly be him hating himself plus a few of my HC’s thrown in as he thinks about things. There is a big one in this first chapter and it will be explained later along with a lot of other things. An important note is I write the world of BOTW as a lot bigger than shown in game for reference I write Kakariko as a village of around 1000 people and it is the smallest major town the stables are also small towns so you will see that, I will bring it up in the notes when it is obvious.

Rhoam felt the blast, the burning, the pain and knew this was it, he could only hope that he had bought enough for more of his people to escape. With his final breath he sent a silent prayer, did he even have a voice anymore he didn’t know, to Hylia, to the Golden goddesses, to spirits of Hyrule, to anyone that would be able to hear him. A prayer for his daughters safety a prayer that even if she couldn’t unlock her powers that she would be safe. Goddess knew he couldn’t protect her, he had failed as a king but more importantly he had failed as a father, this was his dying thought and then, he was floating, floating in a black expanse. He knew he was dead but he had no idea where he was, was this his afterlife, his punishment for failing his daughter, maybe he deserved this, he didn’t know. He waited floating in this black expanse when he saw a point of light moving towards him, or was he moving towards it, he didn’t know but he waited wondering what it was but not becoming impatient, he was dead he had all the time in the world. The light gained a shape as he got close, a woman in a white dress with long blond hair, as she got closer he recognized her, his beloved lost Wife, mother of the daughter he had failed. She looked as beautiful as the day he lost her but all he felt as he looked at her was shame, her daughter had grown up beautifully and was so intelligent but all he had cared about was her failure to access her sealing powers. 

“Hello my Majestic Buck.” Rhoam let out a soft laugh at the old nickname.

“Hello my Precious Doe, I have missed you so much.” Her smile was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a long time, exactly as he remembered, and he was suddenly saddened by the fact that he could remember his long dead Wife’s smile but not his still living daughter’s smile. “I have failed in so many ways without you, as King and…” he paused almost afraid to admit his greatest failure but feeling the need to. “And as a father.” He felt tears well up in his eyes, he had suppressed so much due to his fear of the calamity and now, now all that planning and pushing had all been for nothing, he was nothing, nothing but a failure in every aspect of his life. His beautiful Wife smiled again and pulled him into a hug, that was all he needed for the tears to fall and he silently cried for all the people lost to his failure but still holding on to hope that his daughter was not among those numbers.

“Oh, Buck it’s not your fault there was so much fear among everyone you couldn’t help it.” She said as he began to calm down.

“No, I could have been more lenient to her, I could have scolded those that called her a failure but I didn’t, I sided with them, not our little Fawn.” Saying that nickname for his daughter made the tears start up again, how long had it been since he had called her that had it been so long she no longer remembered that her mother would call her that, he… he didn’t know. “I deserve whatever punishment the Goddess decides for me.” His beautiful Wife pulled away from him and cupped his face in her hands.

“Oh, Buck, my love, one of the first signs of the calamity is a rise in fear but that is not known by anyone other than those of us in the afterlife.” He found himself sitting with his wife sitting on his lap holding his face just as they used to do in their private moments. “Yes, you could have tried to fight it harder and maybe you would have been able to if I had not died or if someone else was also able to but what’s done is done, we cannot change the past, only hope for the future.” Rhoam found himself leaning in to press his forehead against his wife's, letting her calmness fill him.

“I should have been better, Doe, I should have tried harder but…”

“I know.” She let them sit in the peaceful silence of the void they were still in for a while before pulling away. “Hylia is not happy with you but she knows it is not entirely your fault so she has devised a punishment she feels is fair.” Rhoam nodded he deserved to be punished whatever the goddess chose for him would not be enough in his mind. “The hero fell saving our little Fawn and she awakened her powers trying to save him but was just too late, however the shrine on the Great Plateau is luckily a Shrine of Resurrection.” She paused letting her dear husband process this information. “The hero will lay in a deep slumber until he is healed and you will watch over him until he is ready, while our Daughter holds back the Calamity inside of Hyrule castle.” She pulled his hands into hers. “You will be tasked with watching over the hero as he sleeps and making sure he is ready for his quest.” She leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder, he leaned his head down to touch hers. “After he is on his quest you will be able to leave the Plateau but will not be able to move on until he has completed that quest to defeat the calamity.” 

“I understand, Doe, I do.” She pulled away and smiled at him. “Do you know how long the Hero will sleep?”

“I do.” She nodded, “but I am not allowed to tell you how long you will wait.” He understood, it wouldn’t be a punishment if he knew how long it would be. “As time passes you will learn the things you need to know, the goddess will ensure that.” Again Rhoam nodded that also made sense as if he was to help the Hero get ready for his quest he would need to know things that he normally would not. “But other things you will need to learn on your own.” She smiles at him leaning in to press her forehead to his for a moment. “I love you my Majestic Buck and I always will.” With that she kissed him, the dark void around them suddenly shining with bright light and Rhoam found himself standing on a Cliff overlooking Hyrule Field.

Clearly he had been placed there on purpose to see the failure of his great plan. The outpost at the base of the cliff was burning, guardians firing at walls and moving quickly searching for anyone left alive in the ruins of a once safe place. The field itself was engulfed in flame and he could see Sheikah warriors trying to gain the attention of the machines he had thought would save them, leaping out of the way as the soldiers and knights helped lead citizens away from the fighting. Looking up he saw the castle cloaked in darkness with tendrils of that darkness reaching out. He looked away and saw Impa racing towards the cliffs, her normally pristine outfit torn and stained with mud, her hair flowing freely no longer in its tight bun. She reached the cliff wall and began to climb, reaching the top faster than he had thought she was capable of and racing past him. He turned to face her and found himself on top of another cliff watching Impa race across the plateau to reach the Shrine that was now right behind him. Turning he saw a group of sheikah warriors carrying the body of the Hero into the shrine and he felt compelled to follow. They moved through the cave towards the back to a small room with a bed, no, not a bed, it was a shallow pool. The hero was stripped down and placed on the table, for the first time in years Rhoam was struck by how young the hero was. He remembered when he first learned that the Hero had drawn the sword that seals the darkness he had been struck by how young the boy was at the time but his fear of the calamity had caused him to push those thoughts away. Now watching the Sheikah scientists work to get the shrine turned on he remembered that the Hero and his daughter shared a birthday, both of them had turned 17 today, they were only 17. 

“Is it working?” The voice of Impa from the doorway caused Rhoam to jump and turn to see her in the doorway.

“Yes, yes we just need to configure… got it.” Purah said from the pedestal where she had placed the Slate his daughter had carried everywhere with her. The room suddenly began glowing blue and a cover for the table lowered as the pool the Hero had been placed in filled with a glowing liquid. Soon the lid and base locked together preventing him from seeing the teenager. “The healing process has begun, his heartbeat is picking up and while a lot of the levels on these bars are... low, they are indicating that they are rising.” She took a deep breath as the slate let out a chime. “Okay, we can talk about more outside, the room is going to seal and then the shrine will as well.” The group quickly moved out and as the king followed them he saw Impa pause to look back into the room, a sad look on her face and he remembered that she was the boy’s half sister, them having different mothers, her mother a Sheikah and the Hero’s a Hylian, and he knew the woman was protective of her family. 

“How long?” She turned to Purah, who the former king remembered was Impa’s full sister, Link’s oldest sister, “How long will we have to wait?”

“I don’t know, it could be days, weeks, years, decades.” She took a deep breath, “but he will heal and he will come back, someday.” Impa nodded clearly not trusting herself to speak. “Go back to grandmother, I’ll go to Hateno, I might set up a lab there.” 

“Is Arie in Kakariko or Hateno?” Impa asked, “I was organizing Troops, I don’t remember if she and Mother had gone to grandmother yet.” Impa’s breathing grew quicker.

“They went last week, Father wanted them safe and Kakariko is the safest place for them.” Purah assured her sister, “Mother got them moved there last week.” Rhoam recalled that Arie was their half sister, the youngest of the family, and their stepmother’s name was Taipa he believed. He never realized how much he knew about their family but, then again, he hadn’t been able to impress his Doe by being ignorant of the world around them. The sisters fell into silence as they walked down the path Impa looking battle worn while Purah looked frazzled, her bun not fully falling out of it’s holding but tufts had come loose, her clothes muddied mostly around the knees and below but a few patches of mud in her chest and arms. Both women also looked exhausted but they kept moving not fast this time as they walked to the temple which had stopped guardians in front of its broken walls, the three buildings with altars to the golden goddesses were completely destroyed not a single one having a roof anymore and some of the Wall not looking very sturdy. Rhoam wondered why all the guardians were still but couldn’t think too hard about right then because that was when the roar was heard. Rhoam snapped his head towards the castle and found himself standing in his starting place again, clearly this is how he was going to be traveling now, it would take time to get used to. The darkness around the castle was being pulled back, screeching and screaming, by a golden light that seemed to be moving towards its center inside the castle. With a start he realized that light was his daughter, her powers awakened and moving towards the castle to hold off the calamity until the hero was healed. The light moved further into the cloud of darkness driving it back into the castle before it was trapped in the main spire, the light and darkness swirling around each other before both were gone leaving only wisps of Malice and a darkened castle. 

“Goddesses, please keep her safe.” The words fell from his lips as an unsettling silence began to spread across the land. There wasn’t a hint of any birdsong nor howls of any wolves, there were no insect sounds either leaving the land more silent than the caves under the castle. Rhoam returned to the Sheikah who were leaving the plateau now to go where they were needed. He watched them leave together knowing they would split up at the dueling peaks Purah going to Hateno and Impa to Kakariko village. The other Sheikah would probably go the Kakariko or be sent where they were needed at the peaks but for now Rhoam watched them go, climbing down the plateau and walking away, Purah stubbornly not looking back but allowing Impa to turn to look at the place they had left their younger brother to heal. Rhoam watched the group until they were too far away to make out any details or tell anyone apart even knowing who was where in the group. By the time they had reached that point the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon leaving bringing a start to a new day. Rhoam spent the day exploring the plateau and learning the limits he had now as a spirit trapped on the plateau, at the top of the tallest peak he found an odd pile of stones that he felt drawn to but also scared of. A few pokes and prods led him to believe that this was what his spirit was tied to, this was his grave, his body may no longer exist and if it does it will probably not be recognizable as the King of Hyrule, he knew that he lost his crown in the fight and the heat of the blast most likely burned the clothes he was wearing, so his body was just a body, one of many now left to rot among the ruins of castle town. Part of him wondered if the bodies would be collected and buried or if it would remain too dangerous for the living to collect the dead. Shaking himself from that line of thought he began looking for that would help the hero when he awoke, eventually finding four shrines and an odd little cave with a Sheikah slate holder in it as well as a stone Purah often called a guidance stone. After this he felt himself grow tired, he wasn’t sure why as he was dead but he wanted to sleep and found himself next to his grave, the air was bitterly cold but he felt at peace here and let himself lean against the stone of his grave and drift off to sleep, wondering if he would even dream, his last thoughts a prayer of safety for his daughter holding back the calamity.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this fic


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